


Falling Leaves in Spring, Motherhood

by WhiskeyBuffalo



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Adoption, F/F, Korrasami Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-27
Updated: 2015-06-11
Packaged: 2018-04-01 07:31:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4011178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhiskeyBuffalo/pseuds/WhiskeyBuffalo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of one of the most devastating conflicts since the fall of Kuvira, Korra and Asami rescue and adopt a little girl. Rei. They learn what it means to have a family, to raise a daughter, even as the powers in the world shift yet again.</p><p>This story is set 19 years after the end of Book 4.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Fire and the Phoenix

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's sorta short, afterward everything is quite a bit longer.

_Shadows dance, the flickering light casting ghosts about the square._

_The flames seem to melt into the dawn’s early colors._

_…a small figure wanders out into road. Misty green eyes, a tiny voice in the square. Small footsteps pitter-patter on the cobblestones to the tinkling of jade._

.....

 

It took all night and all morning to put out the fires, and when it was over there wasn’t much of the neighborhood left to salvage. It isn’t until a few hours before noon when the Earth Territories soldiers begin to arrive. The rest of the day is spent searching for survivors, for those that couldn’t escape the violence, yet lived.

There aren’t many.

A lone woman sits apart from the ruined buildings, a small child bundled in her arms, a little girl with emerald eyes which are thankfully closed. The child’s sleep is fitful, but it’s still sleep. The woman rocks her gently as she watches people walk through burned streets, faraway looks in their eyes, searching for loved ones trapped among the wreckage. Their long shadows glide by in the late evening sun. There’s a man who should answer for this, but he went down under the flames, same as everyone else.

Henfaa’s Rebellion will be remembered as the conflict with the highest number of civilian casualties since the Sack of Ba Sing Se twenty-two years ago, when the Earth Queen was killed.

And for nothing. Stupid, so damn stupid.

“Korra.”

The lone woman, Korra, looks up into jade eyes at the sound of her name. A tall, raven haired woman sits next to her with a worried expression. Asami Sato. She lays a bandaged hand on Korra’s shoulder, watching her with concern. She’s probably the only person Korra wouldn’t flinch away from right now.

Asami carefully strokes the child’s dark brown hair with her uninjured hand, who stirs slightly at the touch, murmuring something that sounds almost like ‘Ma’.

The little girl of only a few words. The child that walked out of the fire into Korra’s arms, saying her own name. Rei. She can’t be older than two, probably younger. Korra’s heart breaks for her, she knows Asami’s does too. They swore they’d never do this. There were too many displaced families every day. They’d thought about adoption for a long time, but they can’t care for every lost child in the world.

And yet, in the back of Korra’s mind is the memory of a tree older than time itself. In the threads of fate that weave the worlds together, some pull stronger than others. They draw people together. The future is so far unwritten, but some crossroads are inevitable. Korra can’t help but feel that this is one of them.

“She’s beautiful.” Asami says quietly. Korra knows her wife is nervous, a little uncertain, but there’s some comfort in that, because she is too. Still, neither of them have asked the other to be sure. Somehow, it feels like the right thing.

Asami slowly stands, her hand lingering on Korra’s shoulder. “Our plane is leaving soon, I need to speak with the pilot.” She leans down and kisses Korra softly on the lips. “I’ll be back soon.”

“I’ll be waiting.” Korra says, watching her go. A family, something she’s always wanted. She wonders how different their lives will be from now on.

Rei stirs in Korra’s arms, her short legs wriggling against dark blue armbands. Misty emerald eyes open up to the sight of blue. The girl looks scared, her eyes brimming with tears, and Korra’s breath catches. She’s not sure what to do.

Slowly, whimpering slightly, Rei climbs up Korra’s chest, small hands grasping at her shirt. Tiny arms wrap around her neck, clinging desperately. Korra holds the child to her, a mixture of emotions that she’s never felt all at once. Her own tears spill over and she sobs softly to herself.

They stay like that for a while. The woman and the little girl, crying quietly against each other, silhouetted in the evening sun.

 

.....

 

It is well into the dark hours of the morning when Asami and Korra finally arrive home. The two women quietly make their way up the stairs and into their bedroom, careful not to wake the slumbering polar bear-dog lying just inside their doorway. Rei is asleep again, though she’s still clutching Korra’s shirt tightly as she carries her inside.

“She’s barely let go of me since we left.” Korra whispers, smiling softly. “I’m not complaining, but I don’t get it.”

“It’s because you found her.” Asami leans on Korra’s shoulder, watching Rei sleep peacefully. Looking at her, you’d almost think the day had never happened at all. “She feels safe with you.” In the corner of her eye, she can see a large white head sleepily rise to inspect the bundle in Korra’s arms. “And look who wants to say hello.”

Korra laughs quietly and stoops down to Naga, who stays lying on the floor, curious. There was a time when they would’ve brought her with them when they’d left, but Naga’s getting on in years and is happy enough to have the house to herself every once in a while.

“Hey old lady,” Korra says, teasing the polar bear-dog affectionately. “Meet the newest member of the family.” She kneels in front of Naga, who looks happy as ever to see her friend, jaw open, smiling in the way that dogs smile. Naga licks Korra on the shoulder and then lightly sniffs the child in her arms. This isn’t the first time she’s been around small children, and satisfied with Rei, she gently nuzzles her with her nose and lies back down, deciding to save the time for playing for the morning.

Asami smiles and wonders what that will be like.

Standing, Korra gently lays Rei on the bed, nestling her between pillows, carefully pulling away from those small hands. Asami doesn’t think she’s ever seen Korra so happy and so sad at the same time. To watch her and Rei, basking in the moonlight from the open window, it’s heartbreakingly beautiful.

“Asami,” Korra turns to her, eyes glistening, “we’re going to be parents.” She wraps her arms around her wife, and they hold each other closely, swaying in time to Rei and Naga’s easy breathing.

“Is it bad that I’m kind of scared?” Korra whispers.

“Only if it’s okay for me to be _really_ scared.” Asami kisses her lightly on the forehead, and then harder on the lips. “I’m…I’m excited though.”

“Me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  [ ](http://doofyarts.tumblr.com/post/107660521672/3)
> 
> Rei is actually a character created by the ever-exceptional artist Doofyarts on Tumblr, who gave me permission to bring Rei alive in writing. Clicking the picture above will take you to her page. (Do it!)
> 
> 'Falling Leaves in Spring' is technically a companion story that precedes my other ongoing series ['Rei, the Age of the Lotus'](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3811621/chapters/8499793), but the focus is drawn a lot tighter here. I wanted to focus on Korra and Asami learning how to be parents, and how Rei, given her inevitable adult personality, would be one of the most intense goobers to ever run around in diapers.
> 
> This is going to be a fun, if challenging series to write. Lets get crack-a-lackin.
> 
> P.S. - The Prologue of ['Rei, the Age of the Lotus'](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3811621/chapters/8499793) ties right into this first chapter here, and has the exact moment Korra finds Rei. That story has a much larger scope than this one, so you don't got to read it if you just want to get some korrasami family love, but the Prologue might help add some depth.


	2. The Clouded Rivers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asami wakes up early, Korra has an ominous dream, and the situation they only just left behind is much worse than either of them thought.
> 
> Also, Rei is hungry for 'nanas.

The sun was barely risen when Asami woke up, sunlight just peeking out from over the mountain, soft against the wispy cloud cover. Her eyes open and she stifles a yawn. A smaller arm rests on hers, and she surrenders a tired smile. Slowly, carefully, she slides out of bed. 

It almost doesn’t seem real, but there she is. Little Rei, cozied up against Korra, both of them sleeping peacefully in the morning glow.

_So I wasn’t dreaming._

  _Huh._

Quietly, Asami walks down the hall to her office. It’s a modest space, she thinks, even if it is a little larger than their bedroom. Just an oak desk, a cozy chair, and unobstructed walls to hang blueprints and half-sketched ideas. Simple. A good place to…whatever she needs to do. Think.

Asami slumps into the chair. She’s still tired, the last day and a half has been a hectic, bloody thing, and she didn’t sleep for any of it. Sleep can wait. Right now, she needs the time to try and get her head straight.

Opening the drawer on the right of the desk, she pulls out an old photograph. It’s her and her parents, smiling up at her in sepia tones. They look happy. The picture is from before her father’s business became the monolith that it is, just when the satomobile had started making waves in the consumer market. A year before her mother was murdered.

Sometimes she struggles to remember the color of her father’s eyes, there aren’t any color photos from the time that he was alive, but she’ll always know her mother’s. They’re the same as hers. Her father used to tell her all the time when she was little. That jade, olive shade of green, rare for Fire Nation heritage. She remembered how his face would break apart in pain and pride when he looked at her.

Her childhood was…different. Painful. Her father did his best, but he’d had his own pain, grief that had eaten him inside and out. She didn’t begrudging him for it, not really. He’d meant well…mostly.

It’s almost easy to imagine those eyes, her mother’s eyes, in the faded photograph, looking at her like no time had passed at all. Like the last thirty-six years never happened. Asami wonders what words she’d have for her now, what it would be like to hear her voice.

She could use her advice.

_knock knock knock_

Asami jumps in her sleep deprived skin, shaken out of her thoughts. The knocking at the front door resonates thickly in the open room, though it seems timid somehow, reluctant. She probably wouldn’t have heard it if the door wasn’t right beneath her office.

She has an idea of who it is.

Better get to it before Korra does.

Walking briskly down the hall, pausing at the bedroom to verify that Korra is still asleep, she makes her way quietly downstairs. This is not a conversation she wants to have half awake and dressed in her sleeping clothes, but hell with it. If they wanted to talk, _fine_.

Her face clearly embodying the emotion of ‘pissed-off’, she grabs the door handle and yanks it open to reveal…

Not at all who she was expecting.

That fucking coward.

“Miss Sato.” A tall, uniformed woman, whose fierce features betrayed only the smallest flicker of surprise stood in her doorway.

“General Vinaya.” Asami’s creasing brow was fighting a war against the stress headache slowly growing inside her brain. “Where the hell is Siro?”

The General sighed and crossed her arms. “The official answer? In light of the recent events in the United Earth Territories, the President is occupied, and too busy for ‘house calls’.”

“Bull shit.” Asami arched an eyebrow, watching the martial woman knowingly. “And the unofficial answer?”

“Elections are coming up, Siro is afraid that being beaten to death by the Avatar will affect his poll numbers.”

Asami rolled her eyes and forced a laugh. “He’ll be lucky not to be impeached by the end of the week.”

Vinaya nodded, the insignia on her collar glistening in the morning light. “The man’s scrambling to do damage control. Honestly, I don’t want to be here right now. You two have done more than enough, the least you’ve earned is some rest.” Asami suddenly feels self-conscious in her sleeping clothes. “If you want, you can tell me to ‘fuck off’ and I’ll come back later this evening.”

Asami’s slumps her shoulders and she pushes the door open wide. “Come in, let’s get this over with. Just keep it down.” She gestures to a shelf of liquor beside the door. “Thirsty?”

“It’s early.” Vinaya says simply, glancing at the rising sun.

“Whiskey then. Rocks?”

“Neat, thank you.”

“That kind of day?”

“I’m sure you know all about it.”

 

.....

 

_“Where in the hell am I?”_

_Korra was standing at the edge of a glacier, huge and frozen and weirdly purple. The kind someone might find at the southern water tribe. Except for the color. Glaciers weren’t purple. Well, she was pretty sure they weren’t, it was all a little unclear at the moment._

_That seemed far less important than the fact that she was definitely not anywhere near the South Pole._

_Over the edge of the glacier was what looked like a bird’s eye view of an Earth Territories city, and a large part of it seemed like it was on fire. Also, she was in the sky somehow. Levitating glaciers._

_She had a feeling that she should feel weirder about this than she did. Which was, in itself, weird._

_Looking back over the glacial precipice to the burning city below, Korra had the vaguest sense that this might be a dream._

_But still, she should help them, she needs to help them._

_“Help who?”_

_Korra spun around so fast she almost fell off of the icy edge. A tall, thin man in a black suit stood behind her with pupil-less eyes, his long, slicked back hair coming undone in the gathering wind. Legions of shimmering specters stood behind him, impassive as the windless sea._

_“I don’t see anyone. I don’t hear anyone.” The man’s voice seems to say to anyone but her._

_“You idiot Siro, people are going to_ die _!” She tried to yell, but for some reason her voice only came out in a whisper. Siro stepped to left of her._

_One of the shadows behind the man stepped forward and became solid. A striking young woman in uniform, so innocent and eager. Korra wanted to guide her, to help her, but there was a voice hissing in her ear, and she found that she couldn’t move. The woman seemed to age in front of her, to become hard and weathered before her eyes._

_Korra tried to catch her gaze, but she wouldn’t look at her. Vinaya, she just stared into the distance, past the burning city, placing pieces Korra couldn’t see. The General stepped to the right of her._

_Like a snake unhinges its mouth to swallow its prey, so the man and the woman, Siro and Vinaya, opened their mouths wider than nature had ever intended for them. Rivers poured from their gaping jaws, and their figures melted into the silent current. Korra screamed her silent scream, but the rushing water flowed past her, on either side._

_On the left, the river began red and faded into blue obscurity._

_On the right, the water started pure and clear before running heavy into a scarlet mess, as thick and red as Korra had ever seen._

_Both currents gathered in murky pools before pouring out over the glacier into the city below. There was no doubt in Korra’s mind that the fire would not go out._

_In the prophetic reflections of the rivers, the clouds above turned black and angry, thunder churning in their midst. Some darker shape flits between, from one reflected vision to the other._

_Lightning strikes in the center of her glacier, and the thunderclap shakes the ice to pieces. The frigid island breaks apart and Korra falls out of the sky. She tries to scream, to call for peace, but the sound only escapes as a strangled gasp._

_Korra closes her eyes, bracing for the inevitable, waiting for the impact on the solid earth. It never comes._

_When she opens her eyes, she is lying at the foot of gnarled, ancient tree, its roots older than her or anything else._

_The Tree of Time._

_“Korra, what are we doing here?”_

_The insubstantial form of Asami stands over her, unclothed. Her wife looks at her, worried and confused, her bare skin gleaming in some phantom light. As Korra gets to her feet, she finds herself naked as well. She feels exposed, but that hardly has to do with her lack of clothes._

_She looks to the tree, the shape of an eye warped into its trunk. There is no hiding here, there are no secrets left to tell._

_Words come unbidden to her lips._

_“I honestly don’t know.”_

_Asami approaches her, ghostly and serene, hands made of nothing caress Korra’s skin, though they feel as real as ever. They trace the contours of her body, her curves. Soft but firm, somewhere between fear and arousal._

_A dream and a memory._

_Korra leans into Asami’s weightless embrace, and kisses her hard on the lips. The hands stop their wandering and wrap around Korra’s body, holding her tightly at the hips. When they break apart they linger close, a breath apart, Korra staring into fading jade eyes, trying to convey something._

_It’s hard to say what._

_“Can you feel that?” Korra asks, almost desperately._

_Asami just glances to the tree beside them, watching them._

_“It’s calling you.”_

_And then she’s gone._

_“I know.” Korra turns to the Tree of Time and sighs._

_“I remember.”_

_A small figure materializes in the hollow of the tree, shining in the light of million luminous threads woven about her. Korra steps over to the little girl worriedly._

_Rei._  


_The child crawls slowly through the glowing tangled threads, passing through them like air. Rei climbs to the cusp of the tree’s hollow, sitting just apart from Korra._

_Eventually, Rei steps out of the tree and clambers onto Korra’s chest, she looks her in the eye, the child’s expression grave._

_“Nana.” She says with all of the seriousness a two year old can muster._

_Korra’s expression immediately shifts gears to bewilderment._

_“What?”_

_“Nana!” The child says again, more sternly._

_Before Korra can work out a response, Rei curls a small hand into a fist and smacks Korra square in between the eyes._

 

“Ow!”

Korra’s eyes fly open and she sits up in bed rubbing her forehead, Rei squatting beside her, the child’s eyes brimming with determination.

“Nana.” She repeats resolutely

“Jeez, kid.” Korra smiles despite herself. The little girl doesn’t seem so scared anymore. In fact, she looks fierce, for a toddler.

“Guess you’re hungry then, huh?” Korra says with her best disarming smile.

Rei finally grins and does a small hop.

And swats Korra hard on the leg.

 

.....

 

Asami wasn’t generally a morning drinker. However, just thinking about the disaster the night before, perhaps it warranted an early drink. Besides, she wasn’t about to be outdone in her own home. She set down an empty glass as her guest finished her own.

“Vinaya, honestly, what do you want?” Asami asked tiredly. “Or what does Siro want? Whatever. I’m sure your _other_ reports are just as reliable as mine.” She reached for the bottle of Chow-Tu Fire Whiskey on the table between them and refilled her glass. Offering it to the General, Vinaya only hesitated for a moment before nodding and allowing Asami to pour her another drink.

“What the president _really_ wants is, well, two things.” Vinaya says, sipping from her glass before continuing, unphased by the strong liquor. “Firstly, your opinion on whether relief efforts are actually necessary.”

“They’re absolutely _not_.” Asami said without hesitation. “This isn’t some third-world corner of the country, the United Earth Territories’ Government is more than capable of handling this disaster with their own resources. Anything else would be considered condescending, or worse, somehow acting out of responsibility for the situation.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.” Asami watched the General curiously. “But then, you already know that.”

Vinaya pressed her hands to her forehead and slumped in her seat.

“Yeah.”

“So what’s the other thing?”

“Secondly, the President hopes to receive the public support of the Avatar in said ‘relief efforts’, when he implements them, necessary or not.”

“That _idiot!_ If he would have just listened in the first place…” Asami sighs, exasperated. “Did he want that support before or after Korra put him in a full body cast?”

“Before, I’m sure, but beggars can’t be choosers.”

Asami runs a hand angrily through her hair. This was not how she wanted to spend this morning, not even close. Cuddling with Korra and Rei, trying to figure this whole parent thing out, to _sleep_ for Raava’s sake. That was what she wanted to do. Instead the idiot-coward president decided to pester her with _more_ idiocy, and sent one his fucking lackeys in his place...

Except…

Wait.

“Vinaya.” Asami looked up suddenly, fixing the General with a serious look. “Why are you here?”

“Excuse me?” Vinaya asked, taken aback.

“Why are _you_ here?” Asami repeated, crossing her arms, eyeing her guest suspiciously. “I can understand why Siro didn’t come himself, he’s a chicken shit coward, but he has dozens of other idiots in his pocket to do his dirty work.” Vinaya sat up straighter and returned Asami’s stern gaze. Jade eyes staring into grey. “The last I knew, you and the president didn’t exactly see eye-to-eye anymore. Who was going to come if you didn’t?”

Vinaya pinched the bridge of her nose, furrowing her eyebrows. She reached for her glass, and after a moment of consideration, downed the remainder of the whiskey in one drink.

“His secretary, I told her to get lost.”

The General set the empty cup on the table, grabbed the bottle without asking, and filled her glass again. 

“Sorry,” she said apologetically. “It’s just one those…oh hell, you already know. This whole situation fucking sucks.”

“Yes, it does.” Asami says, her tone sharp as ever. “What do you want, Vinaya? And more importantly, what don’t you want the president to know?”

“It’s not that. It doesn’t matter if he knows. He’s just…I need your advice.” Vinaya looks into Asami’s eyes, suddenly sincere, her expression not as fierce as it was, and Asami’s look softens.

“What do you need?”

“The Earth Territories Forces are considering military retaliation against the Fire Nation.”

Asami’s almost spit out the whiskey she was sipping.

“ _What?_ ”

“They’re out for blood Asami, a lot of people died.”

“I know, _I was there_. The Fire Nation didn’t kill those people, a bunch of pissed-off civilians did.”

“Fire Nation citizens.”

The tension headache Asami had earlier was now melting her brain with renewed vigor, like a freight train, gliding over a lake of lava, on a direct collision course with the center of the skull.

“Fuck.”

“The tension between the two nations has been high for a while now, Henfaa just pushed it over the edge.”

“ _Fuck._ ”

The two sat in silence for a while, Asami trying to process the shit super-storm that she just found out was moving out over her horizon. Over everyone’s horizons.

“This could get bad, _really bad._ ” She said, almost to herself.

“It’s not war yet.” Vinaya said firmly.

“Except that when Siro moves forward on his ‘relief efforts’, it’ll either antagonize the Earth Territories, or it’ll set us firmly on their side against the Fire Nation.” Asami shakes her head, her mind racing, trying to think around the pounding in her skull. “At that point, it might as well be war, and the United Republic will be dragged right into it.”

“We can stop this.” Vinaya moves to put her hand over Asami’s, but catches herself and shakes her head. “We can prevent things from escalating, but we need to act decisively, preemptively.” She fixes Asami with a determined stare. “No half-measures. I can only do this if I have you and the Avatar on my side.”

“Vinaya…”

“Asami, _I need you.”_

“Is that right?”

A voice from the top of the stairs beside them causes both women to turn sharply, and tipsily, towards it.

“Funny,” Korra says, carrying a now-awake and squirming Rei down the stairs, Naga following close behind her. “I remember you saying something different before.”

“Nana, foo ee a me!”

“Rei, I absolutely agree.” Korra said as she set the toddler on the ground, who immediately stood up and waddled full speed into Naga, jumping aggressively onto her fur.

“You can understand her?” Asami asked, momentarily forgetting the awful conversation she was a part of in the spectacle of a two-year old trying to tackle a nine-hundred pound polar bear-dog.

“Yeah, she said ‘Hungry for banana, why the hell is this lady in my house?’, which is a good question.”

Asami stared at Korra with an eyebrow raised.

“What? I was paraphrasing.”

Vinaya was watching the little girl climb over the mound of fur that was Naga with an expression that was almost sad. Unconsciously she edged away.

“Who’s that?” The General asked, swallowing hard.

Korra opened her mouth to answer, but the toddle spoke first.

“Rei!” She said, pointing to herself with a small finger and standing up, then immediately falling over into thick white fur as Naga shifted under her.

“What she said. It’s one of the few words she gets right every time. Well that and ‘Nana’, but I don’t think that counts.” Korra said, turning her back on Vinaya as she walked into the kitchen.

“I…think I should go.” Vinaya said, standing abruptly and making for the door.

“Vinaya, wait!” Asami grabbed her hand before she could get any further.

“Please explain the situation to the Avatar, and call me as soon as possible.” Vinaya said without turning around. She pulled her hand out of Asami’s and walked briskly to the door, opening it.

She paused just inside the doorway and looked over her shoulder.

“I do need you. Both of you. I'm sorry.”

And then she walked away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sweet merciful...
> 
> So I tried my hardest to write something fluffy. I swear I did. But my propensity for abstract writing and snark was too strong, and so we end up with a plot with far more substance than I had initially intended.
> 
> This story is still about Korra and Asami being parents, but now it's also about them trying to figure that out as they both try and play their roles in world affairs...which I suppose makes more sense anyways.
> 
> So here we are.
> 
> Next chapter should have us closer to the Korrasami family and we'll get better look at the fierce little toddler that Rei is. And other stuff. Also, I'm debating bumping the rating up because I'm thinking about venturing into...well not smut, but 'smutyness'. Thoughts? I'm looking forward to it. Are you looking forward to it? I hope so, because this chapter was so damned hard to finish. *implosion*
> 
> Until next time, you wonderful lions.
> 
> *update* rating ba-bumped. Smutyness engage.


End file.
